Orthopaedic prostheses are implanted in patients by orthopaedic surgeons to, for example, correct or otherwise alleviate bone and/or soft tissue loss, trauma damage, and/or deformation of the bone(s) of the patients. Orthopaedic prostheses may replace a portion or the complete joint of a patient. For example, the orthopaedic prosthesis may replace the patient's knee, hip, shoulder, ankle, or other joint. In the case of a knee replacement, the orthopaedic knee prosthesis may include a tibial tray, a femoral component, and a polymer insert or bearing positioned between the tibial tray and the femoral component. In some cases, the knee prosthesis may also include a prosthetic patella component, which is secured to a posterior side of the patient's surgically-prepared patella.
During the orthopaedic surgical procedure, a surgeon initially prepares the patient's bone(s) to receive the orthopaedic prosthesis. For example, in the case of a knee replacement orthopaedic surgical procedure, the surgeon may resect a portion of the patient's proximal tibia to which the tibia tray will be attached, a portion of patient's distal femur to which the femoral component will be attached, and/or a portion of the patient's patella to which the patella component will be attached. During such procedures, the surgeon may attempt to balance or otherwise distribute the joint forces of the patient's joint in order to produce joint motion that is similar to the motion of a natural joint. To do so, the surgeon may use surgical experience and manually “feel” for the appropriate joint force balance. Additionally or alternatively, the orthopaedic surgeon may use surgical instruments, such as a ligament balancer in the case of a knee replacement procedure, to assist in the balancing or distributing of joint forces.
In addition, in some surgical procedures such as minimally invasive orthopaedic procedures, surgeons may rely on computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) systems to improve the surgeon's ability to see the operative area such as in minimally invasive orthopaedic procedures, to improve alignment of bone cut planes, and to improve the reproducibility of such cut planes. Computer assisted orthopaedic surgery systems assist surgeons in the performance of orthopaedic surgical procedures by, for example, displaying images illustrating surgical steps of the surgical procedure being performed and rendered images of the relevant bones of the patient. Additionally, computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) systems provide surgical navigation for the surgeon by tracking and displaying the position of the patient's bones, implants, and/or surgical tools.